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USDA, state officials check out Boulder Valley school lunches

By Amy Bounds Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
09/12/2012 08:03:08 PM MDT

Updated:
09/12/2012 08:03:47 PM MDT

Cedar MacInnis and Sophie Smith, right, both eighth-graders at Casey Middle School, look on as chef Brandy Dreibelbis cooks fajitas at lunchtime Wednesday. The demonstration was in conjunction with a visit to the school by USDA officials.
(
PAUL AIKEN
)

The Boulder Valley School District on Wednesday showed off its school lunch program and shared challenges in creating menu items that conform to the new federal guidelines with state and USDA representatives.

The new prescriptive USDA guidelines, which call for more fruit, vegetables and whole grains than in the past and dictate calories, carbs and protein, are requiring districts nationwide to revamp lunch menus.

School districts that comply with the new guidelines will receive an additional 6-cents-per-meal reimbursement from the federal government, which adds up to about $65,000 for Boulder Valley.

USDA officials are touring select districts across the country to see how they're handling the changes, hoping to better understand the challenges and provide information on "best practices" for all districts. The visit also coincides with the USDA's "The school day just got healthier" campaign.

"We're trying to learn and help and share these examples around the country," said Darlene Barnes, regional administrator for the USDA. "They're doing great things here."

The visit included a stop at Casey Middle School for a chef cooking demonstration. Officials sampled two new menu items, ribs and tamales produced in Colorado.

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The officials also visited a "rainbow day" demonstration during lunch at University Hill Elementary, where food service staff members and volunteers encouraged students to use the salad bar fruits and vegetables to create an edible rainbow.

A third visit, to see a nutrition lesson in the garden at Foothill Elementary, was canceled because of the rain.

On Wednesday, Boulder Valley Nutrition Services Director Ann Cooper and manager Deb McCormick shared menu changes that included asking suppliers to reconfigure everything from the size of the tortillas to the ground beef filling. The district also had to switch its whole wheat sliced bread from Rudi's organic to another company because Rudi's couldn't make small enough slices.

Cooper isn't happy with the requirement for whole wheat pasta, noting that the district has yet to find a version that cooks up well. Instead, the pasta tends to be gummy and fall apart. The whole wheat pizza crust also is proving tricky, she said.

Boulder Valley uses a combination of cooked and purchased items in its menus, with an emphasis on local for purchased items like tamales, potstickers and ribs. The district also uses some USDA "commodity" food, including whole turkeys. The district buys its ground beef "on the open market" to steer clear of "pink slime."

Along with making menu changes, the district also provided three days of training to food service workers. That training included role playing to help workers respond to students who don't want to take a fruit or vegetable from the salad bar -- now required with each meal -- or question why, say, a burrito looks smaller than last year's.

Making sure the healthier food is tasty and appeals to students is always a challenge, district officials said.

"We're all in favor of the changes," McCormick said. "It's just painful sometimes."

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